'Racing Extinction' sounds the alarm on Earth's disappearing species

Filmmakers behind 'The Cove' turn spotlight on habitat loss and the role of humans.

'Racing Extinction' draws attention to the hidden world of species extinction.
(Photo: Oceanic Preservation Society)

Raising awareness and outrage about dolphin slaughter in Japan, “The Cove” succeeded in
saving thousands of dolphins. Now filmmaker Louie Psihoyos and producer Fisher Stevens have teamed up on an even more ambitious documentary that aims to do the
same for endangered species and their disappearing habitats.

“Racing Extinction,” which had a theatrical run in 10 cities this fall, will premiere to a wider audience on Dec. 2 to draw
global attention to the biodiversity clock, which is ticking down — and only we have the power to stop it.

“The coral reefs will be dissolved because of fossil fuels
by the end of this century. Twenty-five percent of the species in the oceans
live on coral reefs. They will be gone. Half of the species on the planet might
be gone in the next 90 years. That, to
me, is unconscionable,” says Psihoyos, founder of the nonprofit Ocean
Preservation Society.

He applied the same undercover camera techniques and
“eco-thriller” style as he used in the Oscar-winning “Cove” to gather shocking footage of
Asian markets full of bloodied shark fins, piles of rhino horns, and sea
turtles and manta rays sold for food. The film opens with one such operation,
where he sent spies to expose a Los Angeles restaurant illegally serving whale meat. (Psihoyos himself is too recognizable now, forced to wear a prosthetic disguise
on other missions.)

“This was much more difficult to film,” he says. ”This is an epic story. It's
not just about one cove. It's about what's going on globally. It was harder to
figure out how to get people emotionally engaged in the story,” he says, while
making points about habitat destruction, overfishing, ocean acidification and
climate change. Ultimately, he zeroed in on the people, including scientists
and activists working to create change.

“If we can get people to care about the activists and their
missions and why they care about these animals, that we could take people on
that same ride that we did with ‘The Cove,’” says Psihoyos, pictured right.

“We talk about the smallest thing in the ocean, plankton, to
the largest thing, the blue whale, and the message is, ‘Yes, we lost that one,
but there’s hope. We can work on trying to save the ones that are left.’ It’s
triage — we’re trying to save habitats and species.”

But producer Fisher Stevens emphasizes that the approach to
the film was “to do it in a way where you are engaged and entertained while you are learning something as opposed to being preached to. We want you to think
about it the next time you go to McDonald's or order that steak or buy a new
car, whatever it is. Hopefully, it will have an impact.”

He points out some startling statistics: “Ninety-two percent
of the Brazilian rain forest has been knocked down for grazing. A cat in America
eats 30 pounds of fish in a year — more than a human being — and that fish is
caught in these massive nets that are depleting the fish in the sea and killing
the oceans. Between overfishing and the pesticides that they’re spraying on our
crops to feed the cows that feed us, all that runoff goes into the water. There
are over 7 billion people on the planet today and there will be over 10
billion by 2050. We have to change our ways, and contribute to helping the
world become a little better and cleaner.”

With a worldwide audience of a potential 1 billion
viewers, Psihoyos hopes “to create a social movement, a tipping point” with the
film. “We want to create activists out of everybody who sees this film. We are
not making a movie. We are starting a movement."

Toward that end, Discovery has provided materials for
classrooms and the social action campaign
#StartWith1Thing will
encourage people to do their part, even if it’s small. “Individual actions when
multiplied really add up, and we do have the ability to steer the course of history
and really save the planet,” says Discovery Executive Vice President John Hoffman, who
oversees documentaries.

Psihoyos, a vegan for six years who drives a 12-year-old
electric car, emphasizes the importance of getting off fossil fuels and
adopting a plant-based diet, to reduce the amount of carbon dioxide and methane in the atmosphere. “The
burning of fossil fuels is destroying the atmosphere and the oceans, that there
are consequences to what we do every day that have ripple effects. But if you
take acting by doing one thing, you can make a difference,” he says. “There’s a
beauty and a curse in how much time we’re spending on social media, but it’s
the ultimate tool for us. We’re using social media to spread the message in a
massive way.”

Next up for the director is a film with James Cameron about
vegan and vegetarian athletes that “will dispel the myth that you need meat to
become a real man.” Producer Stevens is teaming up with Leonardo DiCaprio on a climate
change documentary. “We know that this is the biggest issue on the planet, yet
we’re still not doing enough. It’s about why are we complacent and what if we
don’t act,” he says. He’s also making a film about Carrie Fisher and Debbie
Reynolds for HBO, and hasn’t given up acting entirely — he has a small part in
the next Coen Brothers movie.

But the mission of “Racing Extinction” is ongoing. “The loss
of biodiversity will be unimaginably horrific for future generations if we don't
do something about it now,” says Psihoyos. “We are the only generation left
that can save endangered species. You can't look to your kids to save the
planet. It’s up to us.”